UEFA magazine's top 50 Champions League players

Who was the strongest player in the Champions League since the new format has been introduced, archiving the old European Cup?

To answer the question players, journalists and users of the web page have been consulted by UEFA. The response was virtually unanimous that the palm goes to the winner Zinedine Zidane, who with the shirt of Real Madrid in 2001-02 has risen in the sky a Champions League, scoring the decisive goal against Bayer Leverkusen.
A player who between Bordeaux, Juventus, Real Madrid and the French national football showcased a sublime fact of class and elegance.


Zidane tops the high podium preceding Lionel Messi, Barcelona star, and Paolo Maldini, formal Milan captain. Also figures in the list: Casillas, Kaka, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho.

Cristiano Ronaldo is only at 30 ° place of a ranking that clearly shows a non-high approval of the public towards the Portuguese champion, who claimed to prefer awards processed with statistics and data.

Surprisingly on the list doesn't appear great champions like Pavel Nedved, Michael Carrick or Patrick Kluivert. However, this is the top 50:

50. P Sousa
49. Morientes
48. Lampard
47. Matthaus
46. Deco
45. Ronaldinho
44. Effenberg
43. Buffon
42. Davids
41. Hierro
40. Makelele
39. Keane
38. Mendieta
37. Savicevic
36. Inzaghi
35. Schmeichel
34. Litmanen
33. Desailly
32. R Carlos
31. Van Nistelrooy
30. C Ronaldo
29. Kaka
28. Rijkaard
27. Rooney
26. Redondo
25. Nesta
24. Deschamps
23. Pirlo
22. Van der Sar
21. Puyol
20. Ronaldo
19. Henry
18. Beckham
17. Casillas
16. Del Piero
15. Zanetti
14. Scholes
13. Shevchenko
12. Kahn
11. Iniesta
10. Gerrard
9. Eto'o
8. Figo
7. Seedorf
6. Giggs
5. Raul
4. Xavi
3. Maldini
2. Messi
1. Zidane